


a handful of firsts.

by summersocietyy



Series: vienna. [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, childhood best friends au, if you read my xfiles fic you know i have NO CHILL when it comes to childhood best friends!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summersocietyy/pseuds/summersocietyy
Summary: The first time they meet, it’s at a park near both of their houses. Spencer Reid is eight years old, has shaggy brown hair, and is in seventh grade. Donnie Haskins is ten years old, in fifth grade, and is, Spencer decides as Donnie shoves him off the swingset and into the dirt, the size of a semi-truck.Parker O’Hare, seven years old, in second grade and with three older brothers at home, is an angel.Or at least, that’s what Spencer decides when she marches up to the swingset from behind, all business, and shoves Donnie Haskins as hard as she can with her tiny little arms.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s)
Series: vienna. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727104
Comments: 5
Kudos: 79





	a handful of firsts.

The first time they meet, it’s at a park near both of their houses. Spencer Reid is eight years old, has shaggy brown hair, and is in seventh grade. Donnie Haskins is ten years old, in fifth grade, and is, Spencer decides as Donnie shoves him off the swingset and into the dirt, the size of a semi-truck. 

Parker O’Hare, seven years old, in second grade and with three older brothers at home, is an angel.

Or at least, that’s what Spencer decides when she marches up to the swingset from behind, all business, and shoves Donnie Haskins as hard as she can with her tiny little arms. It’s a surprising amount of strength coming from someone so _small_ \- and she is small. She’s the kind of small that would make Spencer’s mother say _oh, I could put her in my pocket!_ Donnie Haskins goes flying off the swingset and into the ground, startled enough that he doesn’t have time to throw his arms out in front of him before he lands in the dirt with a sickening crunch and blood spurts from his nose.

“Go pick on someone your own size!” Parker demands, little hands on her hips as she glares at him. Donnie has a few choice words for the pint-sized blonde, but he keeps them to himself, focusing his rage instead on Spencer as he mumbles the word _freak_ under his breath and kicks dirt at the younger boy. Parker glares after him until he’s a good fifty feet away, then moves around to the front of the swings and scoops up Spencer’s glasses gently.

“Here.” She says, offering him a small smile as she holds them out. Spencer takes them and wipes them off before sliding them back up his nose. He squints upwards, taking the offered hand, and dusts his pants off as he stands. He gets a better look at his savior now, and he thinks he understands what fairy tales are talking about when they mention love at first sight.

Parker O’Hare is the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. She’s a solid four inches shorter than him - a fact that won’t change much over the years - her hair is the color of honey held up to the sun, her eyes are green like new buds in the spring, there’s a spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks, and she has the sweetest dimple in her right cheek. It occurs to Spencer that he’s seen her before, and he realizes after a moment that she lives across the street from him. 

He also realizes after a moment that she’s talking to him. Shaking himself a little, he nods when she asks if he’s okay, offering a small smile as she says that Donnie Haskins is nothing but a bully.

“Statistically speaking, 60% of bullies are doing it because they’re being bullied themselves at home, and-” Spencer says, then snaps his mouth shut - most people don’t wanna hear his facts, and he’s sure that Parker is one of those people. But instead of looking at him funny or rolling her eyes and leaving him alone, she hums thoughtfully and crosses her arms.

“Well, I don’t feel bad for him.” She says, looking up at him defiantly. He nods once, a little perplexed at the reaction - or lack thereof - and clears his throat. Before he really knows what’s happening, Parker is taking his hand and dragging him towards the sandbox and asking if he’ll help her make a sand castle because really she’s no good at it and her brothers are always knocking them over when she tries at home which is why she comes to the park to do it. 

They’re pretty much inseparable after that. 

Parker’s family becomes like his own. Her brothers tease him, but never in a way that makes him feel bad; her mother and father accept him as one of their own the first day Parker brings him home and loudly declares that he’s her best friend. His parents accept Parker with open arms as well, though he insists on spending more time at Parker’s house than at his - Parker never pushes, but when she finds out why, she hugs him tighter than ever before and makes sure to remind him that if he ever needs to get away for a bit, he’s welcome to stay with her and her family, and he cries into her shoulder.

Parker is the first (and only) person he tells about his Aspergers diagnosis. The diagnosis comes at ten years old, and everything makes a little more sense. He reads up on it as much as he can and puts off telling her for far longer than he should, and he fully expects her to be angry that he waited so long, but she isn’t. Instead, she reaches over and puts a hand out, letting him make the first move because she’s always known that he’s a little extra-sensitive to touch, and gives him the gentlest smile when he takes her hand. She slides her fingers through his and squeezes his hand delicately and rests her cheek to his shoulder, asking quiet questions about the diagnosis and how she can help and what he needs from her. 

This is all he needs, he decides. His best friend beside him, holding his hand and promising him that everything will be alright, being as patient as a saint.

****

The first time they slow dance, it’s at a middle school dance, and really, he shouldn’t be going because _technically_ he’s in high school, but Parker insists and tells him there’s no one else she wants to go with. So he relents and asks if he should wear a suit and she giggles and shakes her head. 

“It’s not like a fancy dance.” She tells him. “Most of the girls just wear jeans and t-shirts. That’s what I’m wearing, anyways.” She isn’t surprised when he shows up at her house ten minutes early that night in his usual slacks and t-shirt with a cardigan over it. But he has a blast, and she’s beyond happy to see him letting loose and having so much fun. Sometimes, she thinks he forgets that he’s actually still a kid. Sure, he’s got a genius IQ and a scary good memory - he tells her a hundred times it’s called an _eidetic_ memory, and she knows that, but she likes messing with him - but he’s still only thirteen and that’s still a kid if you ask her.

When the songs change and she holds her hands out, it takes him a moment of looking around the gymnasium to realize what she’s asking. He’s glad that it’s dark in the gym, because he doesn’t want her to see the way his cheeks redden when he takes her hands and she puts his on her waist. She settles her hands on his shoulders and they stand an arms-length apart, swaying with the music slowly. They hold hands while they walk home that night, and when Parker shivers a little in the chilly evening Las Vegas breeze, Spencer doesn’t hesitate to shrug out of his sweater and put it around her shoulders.

****

The first time he sees her truly cry is the night he doesn’t get home until midnight. It’s a side of her he hasn’t seen before - sure, he’s seen her cry at movies and when she broke her arm, but that was nothing compared to this. This is silent, heartbroken tears. He comes shuffling down their street slowly, shivering, his entire body tired, his eyes red and raw, and he doesn’t even realize that the light in her bedroom window is still on. He doesn’t notice when her front door flies open and she sprints across the street, nearly crashing into him. He stumbles a little when he feels her hands on his arms, jerking them out of her grasp on instinct and stepping back quickly. She puts her hands up immediately, showing him she means no harm.

“Where have you been?!” She asks quietly, her voice anxious. He shrugs a little and avoids her gaze, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. “Spencer, I was worried.” 

“Sorry.” He mumbles, adjusting the strap of his messenger bag. She frowns at him, tipping her head to catch his gaze. He can see her eyes widen out of his peripheral, and he knows that she’s spied his black eye. She reaches out slowly, brushes her fingers against his hand ever so lightly, and curls them around his wrist when he doesn’t pull away. Pulling him down to the grass, she sits beside him on the curb and reaches up to brush his hair back, her breath hitching in her throat when she gets a good look at him in the dim light from the streetlamp above them.

“Spencer, what happened?” She whispers, brushing her thumb over his cheek. He turns away, embarrassment coursing through him. He can feel hot tears pricking his eyes again as he recalls the memory, and he shakes his head, rocking a little. “Talk to me, please.” She lets the silence sit for a few minutes, wrapping her little hands around one of his and brushing her fingers across his knuckles slowly, waiting patiently until he’s ready to speak.

Finally, he recounts the whole sordid story - from the moment Harper Hillman came into the library to the moment he was able to get himself undone from the goal post. When he meets her eyes eventually, he’s surprised to see tear tracks on her cheeks, and he doesn’t fight it when she hauls him into a hug. Instead, he presses his face to her shoulder and lets himself cry. Hard, choking, quiet sobs into her shirt. 

“I’m so tired of this.” He whispers finally, and he hears her sniff as she cups the back of his head and presses a kiss to his temple.

“I wish I’d been there.” She whispers back, rubbing his back slowly. They sit like that for another few minutes before she leans back and kisses his forehead. “Go inside and get changed. You can come over and stay with me tonight.”

He doesn’t argue, just nods at her and stands slowly. She stands with him and watches him go inside, then crosses the street to her own house and perches on the stoop, rubbing her knees. She jumps to her feet when she sees him reemerge and she holds out a hand as he nears. She knows from the look on his face that his mother is in the middle of one of her episodes, but she doesn’t say anything. She simply leads him upstairs to her room and shuts the door. 

They’ve had sleepovers before, none of their parents have ever had an issue with it. Usually, though, when he’s spent the night at her house, he’s slept on the pull-out trundle from her bed. Tonight though, she leaves the trundle closed as she shuts out the light and crawls into bed. She pats the spot beside her and, after a moment’s hesitation, he crawls in next to her and lays down. She settles close to him, draping the blanket over both of them, and rests her cheek on her hand. He mirrors her pose as she reaches out and brushes a lock of hair out of his eyes. As a general rule, he doesn’t believe people when they say _it’ll all be okay_. But her whispered promise of exactly that sends a surge to his heart when he realizes that she just might be right. 

That night, curled up together in her bed, when she falls asleep with her hand resting against his cheek and he settles an arm around her waist, their legs tangled together under the blankets, is the first time he realizes that he loves her.

****

The first time they kiss is after his college graduation dinner. Parker and her entire family pile into their car and make the almost four hour journey to Pasadena to surprise him after Parker spent all week putting her acting skills to use and telling him she wouldn’t be able to make it. She sits in the audience wearing her prettiest sundress and the necklace he gave her for her fifteenth birthday, beaming as he walks across the stage. From everything he’s told her, people at CalTech have been nicer than they ever were at their high school, and the fact that he’s genuinely smiling as he takes his diploma from the dean tells her everything she needs to know.

He’s the youngest up there, but by no means the shortest. Which is why, she thinks, it’s so easy for him to spot her afterwards. It probably helps that she’s wearing a bright yellow dress and that she’s standing on a bench, waving her arms wildly, she thinks, but she pushes that thought out of her mind when she sees the way his eyes light up. Her heart jumps into her throat when he starts pushing towards them through the crowd, and she leaps off the bench and into his arms.

“I thought you couldn’t come!” He crows, spinning around with her. She laughs brightly, clinging to him, and he thinks he could listen to her laugh for the rest of his life.

“I wanted to surprise you!” She says, beaming up at him when he sets her on her feet. A moment later, the rest of her family, as well as Diana, converge on him in a bear hug. She pats her mother’s shoulder when she sees him getting overwhelmed and her mother ushers everyone back, all of them still grinning broadly at him, their very own college grad at sixteen. Her father insists on buying them all dinner at a restaurant of Spencer’s choosing, and though he’s taken by surprise, he picks a Cuban place nearby.

After they finish eating and the adults are sitting around and drinking, Spencer whispers to Parker that there’s a nice park nearby and she takes his hand and hauls him out of the restaurant, promising to be back within half an hour when her mother asks where they’re going.

They hold hands as they walk, and when Parker shivers a little, Spencer shrugs out of his sport coat and drapes it around her shoulders. She thanks him with a smile and slides her arms through the sleeves, humming softly before she takes his hand again. They stop on a bridge in a wooded area, and the tiny lights set in among the boards of the bridge make Parker’s eyes sparkle and Spencer feels his heart stutter in his ribcage. 

“I’m really glad you could come.” He says as they lean against the railing. She grins up at him, then leans her head on his shoulder lightly. 

“Like I’d miss your college graduation.” She returns, scoffing playfully. He chuckles and winds an arm around her shoulders, holding her to him. She turns to face him then, wrapping both of her arms around his lean waist, and he rests his cheek to her hair. “I was really worried you’d figure it out and the surprise would be ruined.”

“I think you’re the only person who _can_ surprise me at this point.” He muses, twisting a lock of her hair around his finger lightly. She hums and tips her head up, watching him quietly for a moment. When he looks down and meets her gaze, she’s smiling tenderly, but he’s surprised to see tears shining in her eyes. “What’s wrong?” He asks, trying not to panic. She shakes her head and smiles a little wider, squeezing him tightly for a moment.

“Nothing’s wrong.” She promises softly. “I’m just.. I’m so proud of you. You know that, right?” She sniffles a little and he turns in her arms, settling both of his around her shoulders gently and brushing her hair back lightly. 

“I know.” He murmurs, tipping his head. As the backs of his fingers brush against her cheek, he watches her lean into his touch just so. He’s not entirely sure what possesses him to do it, but before he has time to think about it, he’s leaning down and pressing the softest of kisses to her mouth. He feels her stiffen just so, hears her inhale sharply, and he leans back suddenly, eyes wide, and starts stuttering apologies. Parker is staring at him, her eyes wide, her grip around him loosening just so, and he thinks he’s ruined everything, but then -

Oh, but _then_. Then she’s reaching up and cupping his cheeks and pulling him back down for another kiss. It’s his turn to be surprised, because he’s not sure what made him kiss her in the first place, but the last thing he expected was for her to kiss him back. But she is, and he’s losing the moment thinking about it, so he winds his arms around her waist and pulls her close, returning her kiss.

When they break apart, they’re both breathless and a little giggly, and Parker feels like she did the time her parents let her drink a whole glass of champagne at her cousin’s wedding. And Spencer, for all his facts and statistics, understands what people mean when they say there are fireworks when you kiss, or that they’re floating on cloud nine, or any other age-old adage about being with the person you love.

****

Things are different after that, but in a good way. When Spencer comes home from CalTech and starts working on his doctorate, there are stolen glances between the two of them that everyone else pretends not to notice. Nobody says anything when the two of them sneak off together for a walk or when they return and they’re both a little flushed and giggly. Nobody is surprised when Parker asks Spencer to be her date to her junior prom, and nobody is surprised when he says yes.

She won’t tell him what her dress looks like, just enough so he can match his tie to it and find the right sort of flowers. The polaroid she gives him of the fabric is a beautiful wine red, and he knows that whatever it is, it’s going to look stunning on her and she’ll look like a princess, and when he tells her all of this, she blushes and giggles and pushes his shoulder.

He’s the first one to congratulate her when she gets cast as Maria in her school’s production of _The Sound of Music_ , and he sits with her for hours, helping her go over her lines and listening to her practice her songs, and he falls in love with her a little more every time she opens her mouth and sings about brown paper packages tied up with strings. They lay in bed together and he plays with her hair while she reads through his thesis, and he can’t help but think that this is how he wants it to be forever. And he doesn’t know it, but her thoughts are the same as she plays with his hair and he helps her run lines and she stares down at him adoringly.

****

The first time he tells her he loves her, she’s sound asleep in his arms in the hammock in her backyard. Or at least, he thinks she is. In reality, she’s wide awake, but she keeps her eyes closed. They’re swinging lazily in the October sun, a blanket draped over them loosely, and he’s been working on his thesis again while she reads Emily Dickinson poems quietly and the sun starts to set. Eventually, she sets her book aside and he puts his paper down and she tucks herself against him, resting her cheek to his chest, her ear just above his heart.

He plays with her hair slowly, watching her with tender eyes as she lays against him, and he whispers it when he thinks she’s fallen asleep. She knows that he thinks she’s asleep, and she lets him continue to think that, though she scoots a little closer and holds him a little tighter in the seconds after. It doesn’t take long for them both to actually fall asleep.

****

The first time he loses her, he’s seventeen. It’s November third, he’s almost done with his doctorate, and they’re making plans for Thanksgiving. He walks her home after school and helps her with her homework, like usual, and eventually he goes back to his house across the street. He bids her goodnight with a gentle kiss on the cheek and she watches to make sure he gets inside okay before she closes and locks the door. The rest of her evening routine goes without a hitch and when she crawls into bed that night, it’s with thoughts of the musical and her parents and the genius across the street.

Spencer isn’t entirely sure what happens in the next few hours, but he knows that she doesn’t go to school the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. According to her school, they received an email from her parents informing them that she has the flu and they’ll be keeping her home for a week or so - but Spencer knows that’s not true, because her parents are out of town visiting one of her dad’s friends from college, and Parker had been totally fine when he’d seen her Tuesday night. 

When Spencer Reid reports Parker O’Hare missing, she is sixteen years old, has hair the color of honey held up to the sun, and her eyes are green like new buds in the spring.


End file.
